For the authors out there, how much would you pay if my company offered outsourced support for your themes? I have a staff of developers and designers who could answer support emails and forum postings, even make design tweaks or customizations for your buyers. What would this service be worth to you? Would a percentage of sales, flat fee per ticket/request, or hourly rate work best?

I think this is VERY much needed for those of us that don’t understand all the advanced features that most of these templates come with. I am in the weeds myself and would love somebody that could help me set it up the way the template looked at time of purchase, unlike the blank template that currently is there after installation …

Please shoot me an email with your more detailed offer, I will review it and let you know. We’ve always supported our files in our own time but the customer base has grown extensively in the past 2 years. We no longer have that much time for development so we would welcome some extra help. Cheers!

freshface said
Hi there!
Please shoot me an email with your more detailed offer, I will review it and let you know. We’ve always supported our files in our own time but the customer base has grown extensively in the past 2 years. We no longer have that much time for development so we would welcome some extra help. Cheers!

Sorry for my rambling email. My brain works faster than my fingers can type on an iPad!

freshface said
Hi there!
Please shoot me an email with your more detailed offer, I will review it and let you know. We’ve always supported our files in our own time but the customer base has grown extensively in the past 2 years. We no longer have that much time for development so we would welcome some extra help. Cheers!

Sorry for my rambling email. My brain works faster than my fingers can type on an iPad!

Haha, it’s called money rush and we all have these moments in our careers I will have a look at it and reply you there, thanks!

JeffreyWay said
What if there was an option where buyers could purchase a Premium Support add-on when they buy your theme? This would entitle them to more one-on-one support with you, in exchange for a certain fee.

A few issues I see with this:

A one-time fee for lifetime premium support? Maybe needs to be per year??

What constitutes premium support? What if the author provides less than stellar support? What if the buyer assumes that the author is then obligated to do too much…

I worry that it may potentially increase the number of support tickets that come in to Envato.

Nonetheless, it’s worth a discussion! What do you guys think? Do you think a system like this could be regulated?

Personally, I like the idea. With such complex themes these days, support takes up a lot of authors’ time and simply offering it for free can be stressful at times.

It could definitely work out if you had plans per month, per several months, per year, etc and premium support customers could rate the authors’ premium support so other buyers will know whether the author provides “stellar” support or not.

Also, clear-cut rules need to be made and displayed when buyers sign up for this that clearly indicate that the author is not mandated to provide any customizations but simply support for the existing features of the theme and no extension of the theme will have to be honored.

Needs more thought but could definitely work if done right, I think.

Edit: “Premium Support” will be basically guaranteed support. No question/query will be left unanswered and a solution will be found. Also, on the same note, authors should be able to opt out of “premium support” in case they really do not have time to provide in-depth support.

JeffreyWay said
What if there was an option where buyers could purchase a Premium Support add-on when they buy your theme? This would entitle them to more one-on-one support with you, in exchange for a certain fee.

A few issues I see with this:

A one-time fee for lifetime premium support? Maybe needs to be per year??

What constitutes premium support? What if the author provides less than stellar support? What if the buyer assumes that the author is then obligated to do too much…

I worry that it may potentially increase the number of support tickets that come in to Envato.

Nonetheless, it’s worth a discussion! What do you guys think? Do you think a system like this could be regulated?

@Jeffrey

I think it’s a great idea, but some considerations would have to be made:

The difference between premium support and a customisation has to be made clear, very clear.

Premium support would have to be ‘per 6 weeks’, ‘per 3 months’ or ‘per 6 months’. I don’t think ‘life-time premium support would work well.

Envato would have to make sure that the support offered was satisfactory. Unlike items, support can’t be ‘reviewed’. Instead, it may have to be limited to red/black paw and above. However, there are probably better ways of allowing trusted authors to sell premium support.